profile

Tom Waits

1949-12-07 (74 years old) in Pomona, California, USA

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Whittier, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a young boy. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films. In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider (1990) and Alice (1992), first performed in Hamburg. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011). Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Waits, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies

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Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
0 %|Jan 16, 2024
Music, Documentary
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This Is Sparklehorse
0 %|Nov 12, 2022
Documentary, Music
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Licorice Pizza
70 %|Nov 26, 2021
Drama, Comedy, Romance
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The Dead Don't Die
54.32000000000001 %|May 15, 2019
Comedy, Horror
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The Old Man & the Gun
64 %|Sep 27, 2018
Comedy, Crime, Drama
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The Moon’s Milk
0 %|Jul 23, 2018
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Animation
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Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
67 %|Feb 19, 2017
Documentary, Music
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Keith Richards: Under the Influence
66 %|Sep 18, 2015
Documentary, Music
actor
The Laughing Heart
40 %|Jan 1, 2013
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A Brief History of John Baldessari
60 %|Mar 10, 2012
Documentary
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The Monster of Nix
70 %|Jun 1, 2011
Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
actor
Tom Waits: Under Review
40 %|May 13, 2008
Documentary
actor
Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit
38 %|Oct 30, 1999
Music
actor
Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers
0 %|Apr 1, 1999
Music
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Coffee and Cigarettes III
69 %|Apr 11, 1997
Comedy
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John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
0 %|Jan 1, 1990
Documentary, Music
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Cold Feet
38 %|May 19, 1989
Comedy, Crime
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Big Time
67 %|Dec 30, 1988
Documentary, Music
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Down by Law
74 %|Sep 20, 1986
Crime, Drama, Comedy
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At Play in the Fields of the Lord
64 %|Dec 6, 1991
Drama, Romance
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Candy Mountain
55 %|Jan 20, 1988
Music, Drama
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The Making of 'One from the Heart'
80 %|Aug 14, 1982
Documentary
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Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
0 %|Dec 19, 1980
Music
actor
Tom Waits for No One
50 %|Jan 1, 1979
Animation, Music
actor
Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna
70 %|Jan 1, 1978
Documentary, Music, TV Movie
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Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
0 %|Apr 18, 1977
Music
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Star.Wav
0 %|Invalid Date
Horror, Science Fiction
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The Absence of Eden
0 %|Apr 12, 2024
Drama, Romance
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Motherless Brooklyn
67 %|Oct 31, 2019
Drama, Thriller
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
71 %|Nov 9, 2018
Western, Comedy, Drama
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Seven Psychopaths
68 %|Oct 12, 2012
Comedy, Crime
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Twixt
50 %|Sep 30, 2011
Mystery, Fantasy, Horror
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The Book of Eli
68 %|Jan 14, 2010
Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
64 %|Oct 1, 2009
Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery
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Wristcutters: A Love Story
69 %|Oct 19, 2007
Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
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The Tiger and the Snow
68 %|Oct 14, 2005
Comedy, Drama, Romance
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Domino
59 %|Oct 14, 2005
Action, Crime
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Coffee and Cigarettes
70 %|Mar 12, 2004
Comedy, Drama
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Bukowski: Born Into This
71 %|Jan 18, 2003
Documentary
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Mystery Men
58 %|Aug 6, 1999
Adventure, Fantasy, Action, Comedy, Science Fiction
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Short Cuts
72 %|Sep 5, 1993
Drama, Comedy
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Bram Stoker's Dracula
74.59 %|Nov 13, 1992
Romance, Horror
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The Fisher King
73 %|Sep 20, 1991
Comedy, Drama
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Until the End of the World
68 %|Sep 12, 1991
Drama, Science Fiction, Adventure
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Queens Logic
58 %|Feb 1, 1991
Comedy, Drama
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The Two Jakes
60 %|Aug 10, 1990
Crime, Drama, Mystery
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Mystery Train
73 %|Sep 6, 1989
Comedy
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Ironweed
63 %|Dec 18, 1987
Drama
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The Cotton Club
65 %|Dec 14, 1984
Crime, Drama
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The Stone Boy
68 %|Apr 4, 1984
Drama
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Rumble Fish
70 %|Oct 9, 1983
Crime, Drama
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The Outsiders
72 %|Mar 25, 1983
Crime, Drama
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Poetry in Motion
70 %|Sep 17, 1982
Documentary
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Paradise Alley
58 %|Sep 22, 1978
Action, Drama
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Wildwood
0 %|Invalid Date
Animation, Family, Fantasy, Horror
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One from the Heart
57 %|Feb 11, 1982
Drama, Romance
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Wolfen
59 %|Jul 24, 1981
Horror, Thriller

Series

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Ultra City Smiths
64 %|Sep 13, 2021
Comedy, Animation, Drama
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The Daily Show
63 %|Jul 22, 1996
News, Comedy
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Late Night with Conan O'Brien
71 %|Sep 13, 1993
Comedy, Talk
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Fishing with John
74 %|Nov 20, 1991
Comedy, Documentary
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The Simpsons
80.10999999999999 %|Dec 17, 1989
Family, Animation, Comedy
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Saturday Night Live
69 %|Oct 11, 1975
Comedy, News
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Austin City Limits
60 %|Jan 1, 1975
Documentary
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The Mike Douglas Show
54 %|Dec 11, 1961
Comedy, Talk